Job Discussion Forums

[shamblaram]

I have no idea about international schools or community colleges in one's own country. But as for university teaching opportunities, an MA (in a content subject) CAN get you a job as a lecturer, or a sub-lecturer: content 'tutor'/'educator'. When I say 'can', these situations are relatively rare but it's not a complete dead-end. This is based on personal experience as well as what I've read/heard.

As others have said, most job ads for university 'lecturer' positions around the world require a PHD candidate. But some ads, specifically for Universities that are more like technical colleges (used be known as Polytechnics in the UK), may say that a PHD is preferred but an MA will be considered. If you look through the staff profiles of these kinds of universities you'll see this is very often the case.

They tend to teach professional practical skills, as opposed to 'pure' academic subject matter- eg programs in International Business (Finance, Accountancy, Marketing, Transnational negotiation etc..), Communication (eg PR, Advertising, Media Writing/Production, Cross-cultural Communication etc..), Design (Graphic design, Digital design, Industrial design, Fashion, Interior design etc..). Your subject (IR) could perhaps be relevant to courses within International Business or Communication undergraduate degrees- look through university program course-lists and see.

These technical-college-*beep*-universities that use English as the language of medium are normally (but not always) foreign owned or joint ventures. They are popping up a lot in east and south east asia - eg NYIT, Kean, UIC, UCLAN (China); RMIT, Bitish University, EIU (Vietnam), Stamford (Thailand)... I also remember seeing job ads for UAE (HCT, I think), Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Oman, which set MA (not PHD) as a job candidate's requirement.

If you look through higher ed job websites you'll see ads for MA-only-required applications appearing every now and then. Right now there won't be many because most universities will have found their quota for the beginning of the academic year, in September. But universities like RMIT (Vietnam) or Stamford (Thailand) who have unusual academic calendars might be looking to hire (this is just for you to see for yourself that there are sometimes jobs out there where having a PHD is not the bare minimum).

To boost your chances of getting a job with only an MA, you'd maybe want to add three things to your CV: a) industry/work experience, b) at least a year of tertiary-level teaching experience, and if possible c)evidence of research experience/interests.

a) If you don't already have any industry experience, while you're doing your MA try and freelance/volunteer for a local NGO or Int.relations consultancy.

b) If you do your MA by distance or part-time- in between studying try and teach (EFL/EAP) at a University. Though most ESL/EFL/EAP univ jobs around the world require an MA in AL/TESOL/Education, there are many univ jobs in China, Vietnam, Thailand (for starters) that do not. And although the teaching experience (on your application for a content teaching job) should ideally be relevant (ie the relevant content) the fact that you have experience of teaching univ-aged students in a university setting will help. Plus, if that university experience is in the country where you're looking for university content teaching positions, your knowledge of the country's (or region's) specific cultural issues that affect the learning & teaching would be seen as a positive. In some univs while teaching EFL/EAP you might even be able to get hold of one or two content courses on the side- it happened to me in Vietnam, and I've heard of that happening a fair bit in univs in China.

c) If your MA has research methods/a research component, see if you can spin a paper (to be published or used at a conference) off one of your courses (or while working for an NGO). Research output increases university rankings, and for top-level university administrators this is the be-all-n-end-all, and that's primarily why the PHD (with his /her research training) is preferred even at technical college-universities. It seems (to me) counter-intuitive that a job applicant with doctoral research experience testing a theory in a obscure topic trumps an applicant with a professional-skill related MA and professional experience when the courses one would teach are in professional skills (just as an obscure PHD thesis in Linguistics shouldn't be seen as superior to an MA TESOL for teaching English language skills). But, anyway, whatever (sorry about the mini rant), the fact is that because job offers often have to be rubber-stamped by top level administrators at universities, research experience and interests would make your MA-only application competitive.

One caveat, though, for all of the above, is how long long this will last. These technical colleges (with English language as the medium of instruction) that accept MA-only job applicants are mainly in 'emerging' education markets. From what I've heard, almost all universities in Europe, Japan, and most of the ME and Korea, will only look at PHD applicants. In a few years when the 'emerging' education markets (eg China, Vietnam, Kazakstan..) mature and the universities gain reputations, they might be able to attract more PHD candidates from around the world; and/or the 'locals' who left for MA/PHD programs in English speaking countries will start returning home, and these international universities might not need to stoop to MA-only candidates for job positions. Judging by the number of Asians studying in the US/UK/AUS, I suspect this will be sooner rather than later. Then, if you wanted to stay in a content teaching position at a university, you'd probably have to consider starting a PHD yourself...

For now, though, and probably for the next 5, 10 (?) years, there are opportunities for MA holders to teach content at Universities in some countries. Although these opportunities are few and far between, doing a 'content' MA with a view to teaching it it in higher education is not a complete dead-end.

Sorry about the long post; thought I'd add what I know/have found out which might help your decision-making. Good luck with whatever you decide.